Paul Alexander, the voice of “Thursday Night Football” provides his weekly installment of “Coach A’s Clinic.” He examines a facet of football that all fans love to see in a high school game – trick plays.
It seems to me that calling trick plays or gadget plays is just like playing the cymbals. In both cases, all you really need to know…is when!
There are all kinds of trick plays. Fleaflickers. Double-reverse passes. Fake punts and fake field goals. Surprise onside kicks. Your only limitation is your imagination.
But you have to have the courage of your convictions! It’s one thing to have these plays in your bag of tricks. It’s quite another thing to actually call them and call them at the right time!
And earlier is almost always better than later! Look, a trick play is not gonna work when you’re way behind in a game. Your opponent is looking for it!
No! Call it early and call it aggressively to gain control of the game! Iit can rock your opponent… and your own team and fans love it!
Coaches need to remember this, too. Players get demoralized if they spend all week practicing a trick…and then you don’t call it on game night.
Do it!
You know what they say about “no guts.”
